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Joe’s Pub is a performance-art nerve center in New York City — an intimate, “alt-cabaret” space attached to the Public Theater that has presented and incubated both experimental artists and household names.

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Joe’s Pub Seattle presents Justin Vivian Bond

“We only have 184 seats in Joe’s Pub and we sell out almost all our shows, and that’s great,” said Joe’s director Shanta Thake. “But we know there’s an audience outside of those walls.” Seattle, she said, seemed like a natural fit, “another like-minded city in terms of transgressive narrative, fringe stories … let’s see if the Joe’s Pub name can carry all those positive associations beyond New York.”

The first three Joe’s Pub Seattle shows will feature Justin Vivian Bond (“Love is Crazy!” on Saturday), actor and singer Lady Rizo (with her tribute to Nina Simone on Nov. 12) and actor/singer Molly Pope (“An Audience With Molly Pope” on Dec. 17).

Joe’s Pub, Thake said, “is the leader in alt-cabaret in New York, but we’re also a leader for country music.” The through line between all of Joe’s performers, she explained, is the intimacy of the space — artists feel a little freer to experiment, open up and have a dialogue with the audience.

“Everybody who comes through Joe’s Pub, even if you’re in a rock band or a country band, winds up doing cabaret,” Thake said. “We see the power of the artists in the room and people who feel like it’s their first time hearing these kinds of stories, and that’s a shame, whether it’s Lady Rizo talking about having a baby and being a performer — or any number of stories Vivian (Bond) tells about v’s incredible journey.” (Bond prefers the honorific “Mx.” instead of Mr. or Ms., and the pronoun “v.”)

All three artists, Thake said, are “so funny, so astute, so plugged in to what’s happening in the world.” Joe’s style of cabaret is “not just living in a time capsule — all these artists are deeply political.”

Last year’s Houston series, she said, was “incredibly positive … it’s a very vibrant, diverse city that people sometimes view as homogeneous. But people were hungry for a diversity of artists.”

Now, she added it’s time to “see if Seattle audiences are willing to take a risk.”